Re: [Leica] Auction results

["Dan Post" <dpost@triad.rr.com>]

Dante-
At the risk of ticking you off! Let me say that even though I love Leicas,
and enjoy the marque for many reasons, I have used other cameras, and have
gotten good results, awards, kudos and derisive laughter all with other
brands- so I am still firmly convinced the photographer is the real secret
behind a good photograph.
Erwin has many times demonstrated that the Leica glass is about the best for
accurately recording an image, but if the photographer there when the image
happens is not using a Leica- it still doesn't mean the image is not goign
to be a 'winner'! It may, or may not have been a better image if the
photographer used a Leica, but we don't know. He may be like me, uxe a film
like Tri-x with grain like oatmeal, and a slow shutter speed, and the
resulting resolution might be the same as if I used a lens hand ground from
the bottom of a Lagavulin bottle!
Too bad Tina is not on the list- she does use Leica, and to amazingly good
effect! However- if she were hard press and bandidos made off with her Leica
kit, I bet you dollars to donuts that she could take a Canon, and a f1.2
lens, and with a little bit of skill, of which she is endowed, still make
eyecatching and stunning shots that when seen on the web would be
indistinguishable from what she normally does! Heck, the front of the Canon
might not even fall off into the mud!
The fact that she uses Leica means only two things to me-
One, she must feel comfortable with the tool, and knows how to use it. I
know some people who can take the finest cabinet chisel and do nothing more
than destroy a piece of wood. I remember as a child watching old Mr.
Laughridge, who had just broken a hammer handle- take a billet of hickory,
and after roughing out a new handle with his pocket knife, proceeded to
finish and smooth it with a piece of broken glass! Voila! Back to work!
Two- I reckon she uses Leica because she likes to Schmooze with the likes of
us, and enjoys the camaraderie since she lives in such a backwater place
as-<GULP> South Carolina!!!

Normally, I seem to identify more with Erwins 'black sheep' brother, Hubert-
but this time I think Erwin, in his roundabout way, is absolutely right!
It'll be interesting to see!

Dan (Thinking of putting a red alligator grain cover on a black painted
IIIc!!) Post

NB - as Fernando used to say,"It's more important to LOOK good, than to FEEL
good!"
- ----- Original Message -----
From: "Dante A Stella" <dante@umich.edu>
To: <leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us>; "Erwin Puts" <imxputs@knoware.nl>
Cc: <leica@topica.com>
Sent: Sunday, December 10, 2000 11:59 AM
Subject: Re: [Leica] Auction results


>
> There's no accounting for taste!
>
> Which was the most-represented type in 1940-1960 - was it the Speed
Graphic,
> the Contax, or something else?  I'm guessing in that period it was
something
> 4x5 or larger, since 35mm cameras were still scoffed at.
>
> Dante
>
> Erwin Puts wrote:
>
> > After discussing WWII and the bombing of Dresden, (neo)nazis,
pornography
> > and a slew of other topics, that are intimately related to the use of
Leica
> > cameras, maybe this list is really off-topic. Below is a list of the top
ten
> > current photographers, as ranked by their combined auction sales.
> > Cindy Sherman, USA, 1954
> > Thomas Struth. Germany, 1954
> > Andreas Gursky, Germany, 1955
> > Gibert & George, UK, 1943/1942
> > Charles Ray, USA, 1953
> > Nan Goldin, USA, 1953
> > Richard Prince, USA, 1949
> > Andres Serrano, USA, 1950
> > Bruce Nauman, USA, 1941
> > Thomas Ruff, Germany, 1958.
> >
> > The ranking of old masters is:
> > Gustave Le Gray, France, 1820
> > Edward Weston, USA, 1886
> > Man Ray, USA/Fr, 1890
> > Paul Strand, USA, 1890
> > Laszlo Moholy-Nagy, Hungary, 1895
> > Edward Steichen, USA, 1897
> > Hippolyte Bayard, Fr, 1801
> > Alfred Stieglitz, USA, 1864
> > Ansel Adams, USA, 1902
> > Andre Kertesz, Hungary/USA, 1894
> >
> > With the possible exception of some work by Kertesz, no Leica
photographers
> > among these top twenty.
> > And note the very fertile years from 1950 to 1955 and the period 1885 to
> > 1895,
> > According to this very crude statistic, the next generation of famous
> > photographers will be born around 2010 and use a digital camera?
> >
> > Erwin
>
>